Mikel Arteta has insisted that Arsenal must tighten up defensively after they conceded twice against Sporting Lisbon on Thursday night.
His warning came just days after Gary Neville warned the Gunners that their penchant for giving away soft goals could come back to haunt them in the title race. The Gunners played out an entertaining 2-2 draw in Portugal to put them in a strong position ahead of the second leg of their Europa League last-16 tie.
However, the manner of the goals they conceded has left Arteta concerned. Speaking to BT Sport after the match, the Spaniard fumed: “When you concede two poor goals like we did away from home in Europe, it’s very difficult to get a positive result.
“The game had different phases because we gave too many simple balls away in our own half and gave them the capacity to [exploit] transition moments, which they are good at.
“In other moments, we had total control of the game and we lost a little bit of threat today, especially with the four players we are missing in our frontline. [There were] Some positives because we showed a lot of resilience to get back in the game, but we need to defend our box much better and be better on Sunday [against Fulham ].”
Arsenal's tendency to give away poor goals was highlighted by Neville last Sunday after the Gunners survived a major scare against Bournemouth. The Cherries took a shock two-goal lead before Arsenal fought back to secure a dramatic 3-2 win and re-establish a five point cushion at the summit of the Premier League.
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But although they got away with one at the weekend, Neville is adamant Arsenal need to tighten things up if they are to stay ahead of Manchester City in race for the domestic crown. Speaking on The Gary Neville podcast, he said: “I thought City had a more difficult game [against Newcastle ]. They were more likely to drop points in my mind, if anybody - I didn’t think either team would, to be fair.
“So, City did their job and then you expect Arsenal to go and comfortably win. The fact that they’ve won in that way gives them that extra spirit and extra momentum, because it is a game you’d expect them to win 2-0 or 3-0 just because Bournemouth are second from bottom.
“But they made it really difficult for themselves. They’ve got a real momentum, they've got a spirit building, the fans are with them. I would say to them they’ve got to stop conceding goals.
“It sounds like a really simple thing to say but when you concede goals on a run-in, it’s really tough and they’ve conceded two against Bournemouth, they’ve conceded against Brentford, they’ve conceded against [Manchester] United, [Aston] Villa, City. They’ve conceded quite a few goals - I think 11 in the last eight games. So, they just need to manage that a little bit because they’ve got 12 games to go now. City still aren’t playing at their fluent best. We’ve got a hell of a title race.”
Arsenal travel to Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday while Manchester City take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park one day earlier.
